State Highway 74 (New Zealand)
State Highway 74 is a state highway in New Zealand servicing the eastern suburbs of Christchurch. Mostly two-lane, it is composed of limited-access expressways, with part of the highway as the Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway, and connects the city to its port town of Lyttelton.
Route
The highway begins immediately north of Belfast, with ramps connecting to the Western Bypass of the Christchurch Northern Motorway on State Highway 1. It then proceeds in a southerly direction, following Main North Road through the suburbs of Belfast, Northwood and Redwood.At Northcote, the highway turns left onto Queen Elizabeth II Drive and begins its concurrency with the Christchurch Ring Road. As a two lane expressway, QEII Drive skirts through the northern suburbs of Christchurch, with major intersections at Innes Road and Marshland Road. After the Burwood Road traffic lights, the road changes name to Travis Road, loses expressway status, and runs in an easterly direction to the Anzac Drive/Frosts Road roundabout, where the highway turns right.
Now known as Anzac Drive, the road returns to expressway status and runs through the suburbs of Aranui and Bexley until reaching the Breezes Road/Bridge Street Roundabout. After the roundabout, the road changes name to Dyers Road. At Palinurus Road, the concurrency with the Ring Road ends, but Dyers Road keeps going in a southerly direction until the Ferry Road roundabout.
After the roundabout, the highway changes name to Tunnel Road and turns into a motorway, and passes through two interchanges before passing through the Lyttelton road tunnel.
In Lyttelton, the road changes name to Norwich Quay and acts as the main thoroughfare through the town and its associated port before terminating at the port gates as Gladstone Quay.
Route Changes
The route of SH 74 has been rearranged quite frequently for a State Highway, initially gazetted in 1964 upon the opening of the Lyttelton Road Tunnel, it only consisted of the motorway and the short section through Lyttelton.When State Highway 1 through Christchurch was rerouted to bypass the city in the early 1990s, State Highways 73 and 74 were extended to cover much of the original route, with SH 74 initially continuing through at QEII Drive/Northcote Road to travel via Cranford and Sherborne Streets. In Christchurch CBD, the route turned left onto Bealey Avenue and then onto the parallel one-way roads Madras and Barbadoes Street. The road then turned left onto Moorhouse Avenue and then right onto Waltham Road before turning left again onto Brougham Street. The road then proceeded in a south-easterly direction until the Port Hills Road interchange with Tunnel Road. In 2004, the route was realigned to its current route, with much of the previous route either revoked or taken over by SH 73.
In November 2017, the Christchurch Northern Motorway's Western Bypass was opened, taking State Highway 1 to the west of Belfast, and State Highway 74's route was extended north along SH1's previous route up Main North Road from the Johns Road intersection to the previously existing motorway.
With the recent designation of the Christchurch northern corridor as a road of national significance, there are plans underway to create the expressway Northern Arterial Road, which will bypass the northern suburbs of Redwood and Belfast as well as turning both the QEII Drive and Travis Road sections of SH 74 into dual carriageways.
Major intersections
For Tunnel Road's major intersection, refer to Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway| Territorial authority | Location | km | jct | Destinations | Notes |
| Christchurch City | Belfast | 0 | SH 74 begins Northbound exit and southbound entrance only | ||
| Christchurch City | Belfast | 2.4 | Previous northern end of highway. Leads to SH1 for southbound exit | ||
| Christchurch City | Belfast | 3.8 | – Northwood | ||
| Christchurch City | Styx | 4.5 | |||
| Christchurch City | Redwood | 5.3 | – Marshland, Burwood | ||
| Christchurch City | Redwood | 5.8 | |||
| Christchurch City | Northcote | 6.5 | – Papanui, City Centre – Bishopdale, Ilam | ||
| Christchurch City | Mairehau | Cranford Street extension | Under construction | ||
| Christchurch City | Mairehau | 9.7 | – Mairehau, Saint Albans | ||
| Christchurch City | Marshland | 10.3 | – Kaiapoi, Shirley | ||
| Christchurch City | New Brighton | 13.7 | – Parklands – North New Brighton | ||
| Christchurch City | New Brighton | 14.5 | – New Brighton, Dallington, City Centre | ||
| Christchurch City | New Brighton | 14.6 | Avon River / Ōtākaro Bridge | ||
| Christchurch City | Wainoni | 15.2 | – New Brighton, Wainoni, Linwood | ||
| Christchurch City | Bexley | 16.4 | – New Brighton, Linwood, City Centre | ||
| Christchurch City | Bromley | 18.0 | – South New Brighton – Aranui, City Centre | ||
| Christchurch City | Bromley | 21.2 | – Ferrymead, Sumner, Linwood, City Centre | ||
| Christchurch City | Woolston | 21.7 | – Woolston, City Centre | ||
| Christchurch City | Woolston | 22.0 | – Sumner, Woolston, City Centre | Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway begins | |
| Christchurch City | Woolston | 22.1 | Heathcote River / Ōpāwaho Bridge | ||
| Christchurch City | Heathcote | 24.3 | – Healthcote, Opawa, City Centre | ||
| Christchurch City | Heathcote | 26.0 | – Heathcote | Northbound exit and southbound entrance only | |
| Christchurch City | Heathcote | 26.1 | Lyttelton Road Tunnel | ||
| Christchurch City | Lyttelton | 28.1 | Lyttelton Road Tunnel | ||
| Christchurch City | Lyttelton | 28.1 | – Naval Point, Governors Bay | Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway ends | |
| Christchurch City | Lyttelton | 28.5 | – Town Centre, Sumner | ||
| Christchurch City | Lyttelton | 28.8 | – Port | SH 74 ends |